WAL 2015 Middleweight Championship Airs Wednesday on ESPN2!

August 11th 2015

The World Armwrestling League’s 2015 Middleweight Championships airs Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN2, WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. The championship action intensifies with each week in this Summer of WAL, as the weight classes get heavier and the athletes get brawnier. With that in mind, here are three things to watch for Wednesday night:

1. Can “Todzilla” repeat?“Todzilla” Todd Hutchings shocked the arm-wrestling world last year when he won the WAL 2014 middleweight championships for both the left and right arms, an unheralded display of dominance in The Pit. But can the 48-year-old mechanical engineer out of Ohio do it again? Hutchings brings a vast knowledge of physics and engineering to each match, but will it be enough to stave off the hungry competitors biting at his heels?

“I’ve got all these young guys coming up,” he said, “and I’m just holding on.”

But don’t let the modesty fool you. Hutchings has elsewhere pointed out that he’s got “best-in-class” arm strength, and with a fair start, he says, “no one can touch me.” Wednesday night could see Hutchings cement his place in the WAL pantheon as one of the greats, if not the greatest pound-for-pound puller walking the planet. “If I can double down on both sides again, that would make me hands down the best arm-wrestler in the world,” he said.

2. Can Alan Guerra become the first Mexican champion in WAL history?Alan “War Machine” Guerra, a 26-year-old automation engineer out of Monterrey, Mexico, travels great distances to battle for his place among the middleweight elites. He’s already been a repeat Mexican arm-wrestling champion. Guerra’s motto is “never surrender.” Is this the year he tops the middleweight pack, helping to put the “World” in World Armwrestling League?

3. Can the challengers ascend?Rob “Vigilante” Vigeant landed with a tremendous impact in WAL competition in 2015. When the 34-year-old construction worker from Newburyport, MA, got to Regionals competition, he shocked the standings when he upset Hutchings in the left middleweight finals. Can Vigeant continue his ascension? Storm Chellino, who owns possibly the greatest name in professional arm-wrestling, will have something to say about it. The 24-year-old from Scranton, PA, is brand new to the brutal WAL competition. Can he battle his way to respectability, or is it going to take a few years more for the Storm clouds to gather for his WAL middleweight opponents?

To find out the answers to these questions and more, tune in at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday on ESPN2 for the WAL’s 2015 middleweight championship.

Gotta work? Forget to set your DVR? No worries! The WAL is all over ESPN. Check here for our full TV listings to get caught up on the middleweight battles, the lightweight championship, our regional finals and the epic 2014 championship!

More all new action comes at you Aug. 19, when the heavyweights collide, followed by the super heavyweights on Aug. 26.

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